Before we begin, let me get something off my chest real quick. Some people seem to desperately want this show to be a parody. Like maybe the world would be less ugly if Cross Ange turned out to be a parody or something. Sure, it’s self-aware. Yeah, Sunrise is winking at us. But y’know, a parody actually has to be clever, a tiny bit thought-provoking, and perhaps even a little funny. Is there really anything clever, thought-provoking or funny about anything that you’re about to see? At the end of the day, what difference does it make whether or not the show’s winking at the audience? Seriously, think about it. Let’s do a thought experiment. One show has lesbian rape, and another show has lesbian rape, but its director is winking at you. Is the second show somehow better? Is it somehow redeemed? Don’t be fooled. It’s still trash either way. It doesn’t fucking mean anything if all he does is wink. Again, a parody should actually be clever, thought-provoking, and funny. Otherwise, you’re no different from that asshole who throws cheap insults at someone, then when people dare to get offended, he goes, “Bro, chill out! I’m just joking!” My point is, you can call this a self-aware parody all you want, but it doesn’t mean anything unless the anime has a point to make. I’m not seeing that point. As such, I’m going to blog Cross Ange like I would with any other anime.
— “These [are] the massive, hostile creatures who traverse space-time, known as ‘DRAGON.'” Oh, is that what they are called? I had no idea what these giant, flying lizard creatures were.
— Ange foolishly believes her empire will actually send a release order for her. This has got to be the dumbest character in recent anime history.
— Right off the bat, we get some yuri action in about the trashiest way possible. The taller girl even licks her lips in anticipation of “meeting” Ange. What? Did you think the sexual assaults would be limited to just the first episode and the first episode alone?
— One girl tells the captain to take it easy with the skinship: “We get complaints about how hard you ‘massage’ the newcomers.” Welp.
— Ange’s stupidity doesn’t stop there. After being introduced to her squadron or whatever, she asks, “Are these all Norma?” Later, she calls them defects. I get it. You hate Normas. And I hate bears. Do you know what I don’t do? I don’t go up to a bear and insult it to its face. Get my drift? Probably not.
— Oh, so that’s her excuse: “The Light of Mana just doesn’t reach this far.” It’s like cell phone coverage! She just has a shitty provider like Verizon or something!
— In fact, the story feels like a broken record at this point. Ange will say or do something condescending or just plain stupid, then someone will proceed to put the princess in her place. Cross Ange is trying so hard to make us hate its heroine that it’s beginning to make me wonder…
— Case in point, Ange refuses to wear her rider suit. In her infinite wisdom, Ange claims she’d rather be naked than wear something so revealing. She thus gets her comeuppance when Salia forces her to go naked. Gee, didn’t see that one coming!
— Again, the story is trying so hard to make you hate Ange. Apparently, she can’t even dress herself. My only question is why. Why would you write a character like this? How is any of this interesting or funny? Rather, it’s like we have this sick need to put “this haughty bitch” in her place or something. We therefore make her as dumb as possible because this will maximize our enjoyment for when she repeatedly gets her comeuppance.
— Elsewhere, we learn that Jill is an amputee. Probably lost it to a dragon or something.
— With her new rider suit, we now get to see Ange go through a a training simulation. None of the girls think our princess will get it down, but that’s where they’re wrong. It turns out this simulation is so similar to that sport that she plays back home, so of course, she’s a fucking natural at piloting her mecha too! And just a few minutes ago, she couldn’t even dress herself. Amazing!
— When Ange is assigned to her dorm room, she immediately starts to imagine herself back at home. Eventually, she tells her dearest maid to fetch her horse, but when she turns to look at the maid, she finds herself back in her oh-so-cruel reality.
I can just imagine some people cackling with glee as they watch this scene. This doesn’t feel like a parody. It feels like a hateful story that’s relishing in Ange’s pain and misery.
— A training montage follows, but it’s not even animated.
— But we learn that somehow, just somehow, Ange is above average in every important category. C’mon, what sixteen-year-old girl doesn’t have a deep understanding of military theory?
— Ange gets picked on some more in a scene at the cafeteria, then afterwards, she gains an admirer. She regales said admirer with stories about her perfect Mana-filled world. Oh, there’s no violence! There’s no discrimination! Yeah, seriously.
— Shit hits the fan, however, when Zola isn’t satisfied after a sweaty sex session with one of the other girls. Welp, you know where this is headed. It’s all part of the “condescension > comeuppance” cycle that we’ve been seeing all episode long. Hell, all series long, if you think about it.
— Y’see, Ange’s admirer had given our princess a cup of pudding, but for some reason, Ange accepted it only to throw it away later. Now that you’re all mad at Ange for shitting on that little girl’s feelings, you’re less likely to feel as bad when the captain rapes her!
— And oh yeah, Ange bought a pen and pencil just to write an invocation of her entitlements as royalty as well as a petition for her release. No, seriously. We really, really want you to hate this girl. Therefore, Zola drags the girl off to a room to, well, rape her. What else did you think she would do?
— It’s all censored, of course. Otherwise, we’d have to sit through some awkward breast-groping. But hey, buy the blu-ray to see this sexual assault in all its glory!
— Fortunately, dragons attack, so Zola has to back off. Yeah, really, the only thing stopping Ange’s rape was literally dragons. Is this still a parody to you guys? Hell, it’ll become borderline softcore porn when the blu-rays come out.
— Naturally, Ange tries to escape in her mecha as soon as she’s outside the confines of the prison. C’mon, you shoulda seen that coming. What else did you think she would do? Still, does the princess even know where to fly to? Naturally, it’s a poorly thought-out plan.
— But again, we have that cycle all over again. Remember Ange’s admirer? Yeah, she now wants to escape along with the princess! But because they broke formation, that extradimensional portal opens up right above the girl, and a lightning strike rips the admirer in half:
And it’s all Ange’s fault! The show wants you to hate Ange so much, it’s pathetic. But with that, the episode comes to an end. Thank god.
— Oh man, don’t forget that this story will include a male love interest. I can’t wait for when he shows up.
Moe Sucks 
Oh, do keep blogging this.
Sunrise trying to out-Sunrise Sunrise.
And out of all the cast Vivien makes me chuckle – Pink, check. Loli, check. Fang, check. Lolipop, check. Houko Kuwashima – wtf?
Kuwashima in Fukuda Mitsuo show again? Her character dies. Calling it.
Or fucks the MC, we’ll see. Maybe both.
With Fukuda in the mix I won’t be entirely surprised if Jesus Yamato manages to crossover and save the day in Ultra-Strike Freedom.
Ha! For a prison for supposed inhuman monsters, their base is rather spiffy. But I guess that’s what’s really starting to disturb me. It seems that the Normas are simply given a seemingly comfortable home because they will just die sooner or later anyway.
Ange is still detestable. And why do they even think that this one is a parody?
Its not a parody. What is a fucking joke is the reused frames from seed. Hell the lead male looks exactly like Kira. Oh wait that is the joke. Its not a parody just has sunrise putting a few jokes like that in…which aren’t funny at all.
I could forgive that the guy looks like Kira. But his entry in the story would probably be the biggest series killer for me. As it is, while Ange is still an unlikable bitch, the Norma storyline is still fairly interesting (am surprised that this bears very little resemblance to the Coordinator storyline in Seed). I don’t want to trade that for some hackneyed romance story where Ange gets saved by the power of love. Or if they really want that power of love story badly, I would prefer Jill fill the role of the love interest instead.
This is made by same guys who made Valvarave, Code Geass & Gundam SEED. At this point, nothing they make are intentionally parody,
An anime where once again, young girls are humanities saviors. They try to change the formula but anyone can see right through this.
It’s cookie cutter anibull at it’s finest.
They are trying so hard to edgify anime and fail at it.
Oh! Do you mean they are trying to get into the mainstream public tastes? like those live action shows for adults? Just add a little sexual assault here and there and tada! Every adult out there will find it mature enough to watch!
I remember a vidio from some Gigguk guy in which he was saying that our anime better not going mainstream, because we would lose our lolis and tropes which we dearly love… well, I guess we haven´t lost them! Nope, they have evolve to be involve into “mature” themes, if only the people trying to convey those themes were mature too…
After reading this post I actually feel compelled to go watch the show
Actually, this episode made me really like the main character. Everything she does is internally consistent. Norma are non-humans that are a blight on humanity. Why would anyone expect her opinion to change after getting thrown into Norma Lesborape Prison? She also responded quite appropriately when given an F-16 by her apparently retarded superiors.
No one expected her opinion to change overnight. When did I ever say that? If you’ll recall, I said it was stupid to directly insult people you despise, especially when you’re in their territory.
Yeah, who would change from the night to the morning? Of course, one could expect her being less stupid and more aware of the things coming, I mean, she though the anal observation from earlier was a one time thing? Ugu, surely those rejected inside will love me instantly! They won´t be trying to treat me with more assaults and personal attacks, I´m so caged that I´m blind of reality that much!
Really, they didn´t had books about the world before mana or something? I don´t think a princess would be that blind to literature, surely a book or two should have to talk about human monstruous acts, war and whatnot, but nope, maybe she was just delighted to play all day long and wait for her turn to reign over an entire empire without any real concern for her people or things!
That’s internally consistent too, since holy hell she’s stupid.
I’m growing fond of her too. You don’t have to like the characters in a show as humans to enjoy them as characters, imho.
I said nothing about consistency in my post.
So you are going to support the “woman” that would call for the mass genocide of the Norma for just existing if she had her power. …
Really scraping at the bottom of the barrel.
Well, some people, naturally, will side with the asshole & make up an argument defending them. I admit I’m a fan of a few assholes (Nena Trinity & Q-Vier) but I don’t defend their BS. And both have a lot of BS.
I expect the story to eventually have Ange wisen up and stop being a prick, but you can easily do that and make it feel justified by having her start off as aloof, headstrong, & biased, while maintaining a few moments of isolated humanity that shows she’s not a dickhead at heart and then have her have a startling moment of realization. The problem with Ange going from “Sneering Punk” to “Merciful Thug” (as Fukoda thinks, but she’s clearly “Villified”, in Fallout fame speak) is that she starts out as a dickhead at heart. She’s mean to everybody, and then gets raped or attacked, which the show justified, and the poor girl that likes her is brutally killed, along with Ange showing no appreciation. I’m certain her moment of realization will be “Oh, shit… if the Dragons win, I won’t have any servants to boss around!” It’s hard to take Fukoda seriously as a judge of character because he has a hard time writing sympathetic characters.
She will be the undisputed queen of Designated Heroes if this bullshit continues. I’m taking your advice and am gonna stick with Slice of Life shows.
Hell yes. Then again, I have a weak spot for mass-murdering princesses. Seriously, I love this show. It’s like the first season of Code Geass except with less table lesbianism.
More like the first season of Code Geass if it was ten times worse and full of softcore porn. Two episodes in and this is already worse than anything in that show.
If they were going that route, I’d rather they have Not-Lelouch instead of Not-Kira Yamato.
Well my only issue is still the execution. The rape moments are just to sexualized. On the plus this time Ange faught back. Anyways any racist would act like this in a situation I just can’t expect some one becoming what they were thought to hate and treat as less than human to have anything but even more extreme hatred for what they were thought to hate, and delusions about being normal. I see Ange developing a few feelings with Coco death and this will be the start of her coming around.
“I see Ange developing a few feelings with Coco death and this will be the start of her coming around.”
Or… she becomes “coo coo for cocoa puffs”.
Who could had seen such tragedy coming?
Coco, you will be missed…..
~sarcasm~
Our hero ladies and gentlemen: Throws away any kindness given to her (Ange throws away the pudding) and leaves her comrades behind at the battle.
Also, Ange spouts that equality contradiction BS again, and the psycho lesbo calls out on it.
AND SHE GETS THE MAIN MECHA NEXT EPISODE!!!!
We’re getting into Mary-Sue Defcon 4 now!
Kira was the Jesus of Gary Stu’s he even defied the rules set in place of his own narrative. If Ange is going to be that op when the fights start I am dropping this shit. Actually remembering how bad seed was and by bad I mean it should not have been a gundam series I think I should drop this before shit hits the fan. So far there is a developing plot but I just see it getting thrown out the window when I remember who is behind this series. I mean if Kira is Jesus what’s stopping Ange from becoming Marry.
She’s a bit too stupid to be a Mary Sue. She’s basically an idiot savant.
Also, everybody in the show loves the Mary Sue and worries about them, not thinking about which foreign object should be shoved up her Hershey Highway when she inevitably breaks the rules.
Naive admirer character dying at the end, who didn’t see that coming?
I’m sure her friend will hate Ange in the next chapter to keep the status quo of this show.
This show is like the bastard child of Simoun with some random hentai. That annoys me.
Even for Sunrise standards this is way, way low. I’d put this at the very bottom of their list.
The reason why Ange is so over the top unlikeable is so that the audience can enjoy its rape porn “in peace”. (Because if the subject of these rape fetish fantasies was a nice character people would feel a little guilty I guess.) To repeat what has already been said, this is basically a hentai.
“Oh man, don’t forget that this story will include a male love interest. I can’t wait for when he shows up.”
Not unless the captain rapes him first.
damn a male love interest was hoping for this to be yuri